Claude Rich

If Jean Rochefort remains so dear to our hearts, it is because this extraordinary actor alone embodies a cinema and a France imbued with freedom and carelessness. Through his films, archives and the testimony of those close to him, we discover a complex man, a sad clown saved by his taste for words and for fun.

Estelle fights to maintain her sense of self while sleeping with Angus for money.

Damien is a professor of Chinese civilization who lives with his wife, Iva, a theater director, and their son Noé. Their love is mired in a mountain of routine and disenchantment. To help keep Zorica from getting deported, Iva gets Damien to promise he’ll go to his father, a state department official, for help. But Damien and his father have a distant and cool relationship. And this mission is a risky business which will send Damien spiraling downward and over the edge...

Five old friends decide to move in together as an alternative to living in a retirement home. Joining them is an ethnology student whose thesis is on the aging population.

When a carefree bachelor is unexpectedly left in charge of a young boy, the two embark on a road trip that will change both of their lives.

As she does every morning, Lucie takes advantage of her journey to work to lose herself for a while in the pages of a good book. And as she does every morning, she joins her colleagues at the office with a smile. It's a working day just like any other. Then suddenly all activity in the office stops. All attention is turned towards the window of the opposite building opposite and abanner reading: Man Alone. Is it a hoax? A cry for help? Everyone has his own interpretation, and will try, by any means possible, to discover what lies behind this mysterious message.

Royal romance and epic tragedy feature in this historical drama about Pedro I of Portugal and his lover, Ines de Castro. Their legendary, doomed love story is explored, as well as the darkness surrounding Pedro's powerful, sadistic father.

Loosely based on "4.50 from Paddington" by Agatha Christie.

Besieged matriarch Sonia tries to make certain her daughter's nuptials come off flawlessly even as events spiral out of control is in this dark comedy helmed by François Dupeyron. With Sonia's wayward eldest son under arrest on drug charges, she then discovers that her no-account hubby has gambled away the money set aside for the reception. Will Sonia and her family triumph or crumble in the face of adversity?

In Paris, six people all look for love, despite typically having their romantic aspirations dashed at every turn.

State secrets, sincere convictions, ecstatic crowds, a regal lifestyle, prying journalists, suspicious disappearances: what goes on behind the scenes in the halls of power or the daily life of a President.

Before the court of the Inquisition, the scientist Galileo defends his position in favor of Copernicus' thesis that the Earth revolves around the sun.

On March 21, 1905, the hemicycle of the Palais-Bourbon resounded with the first session of a crucial and animated parliamentary debate, which was to last nearly ten months and occupy 48 sessions in the Chamber of Deputies. They have to study the bill of separation of the Churches and the State. This law, which founded laicity in France, was adopted on December 9, 1905.

It is the early 1300's and the treasury of France, under the rule of Philippe IV (Philippe le Bel or Philippe the Beautiful), is empty. The king decides the only solution is to raid the treasures of the Knights Templar (amongst others) and concocts various charges of treason, heresy and deviance against the Knights and their Grand Master Jacques de Molay. Having confessed under torture to the crimes of which he is accused, de Molay is condemned to be burned at the stake. With his dying breath he curses the king, the king's advisor (Guillaume de Nogaret), the pope (Pope Clement V) and the thirteen succeeding generations of their families. There follows one of the most dramatic periods in French history, half a century of political intrigue, murder, treason, war and famine, which ultimately culminates in the 100 Years War.

Le Cou de la girafe (The Giraffe's Neck) is a 2004 French/Belgian film directed by Safy Nebbou.

In the psychiatric clinic Rhien, residents and caregivers maintain unique and funny relationships.

Henri Lanvern is shooting a film in Thailand. One evening, at the end of the shooting, he sees a friend of the war, General Cao Ba Ky, escaped from a communist re-education camp. No more news from Lanvern since.

Une héritière qui n'arrive pas à hériter, un radin qui ne peut rien dépenser, un petit garçon qui trouve un billet dans la rue, un restaurateur prodigue qui ne fait que donner... Tels sont, entre autres, les personnages de ce film "choral". Pourquoi certains dépensent-ils de manière convulsive là où d'autres retiennent l'argent comme la partie la plus vitale de leur être ? On croit parler d'argent, mais c'est d'amour dont il s'agit.

Joseph Rouletabille, a reporter for a local newspaper, investigates the attempted killing of Mathilde Stangerson, who uses the yellow room of the title as her bedroom. At the time of the revolver shots her room was locked and the windows were barred, but when her father enters after having forced the door, there is no-one there except for Mathilde. So who did it and how did he get away?

The Egyptian Queen Cleopatra bets against the Roman Emperor, Julius Caesar, that her people are still great, even if the times of the Pharaohs has long passed. She vows (against all logic) to build a new palace for Caesar within three months. Since all her architects are either busy otherwise or too conservative in style, this ambivalent honor falls to Edifis. He is to build the palace and be covered in gold or, if not, his fate is to be eaten by crocodiles. Edifis calls upon an old friend to help him out: The fabulous Druid Getafix from Gaul, who brews a fantastic potion that gives supernatural strength. In order to help and protect the old Druid, Asterix and Obelix accompany him on his journey to Egypt. When Julius Caesar gets wind of the project succeeding, he has the building site attacked by his troops in order to win the bet and not lose face. But just like the local pirates, he hasn't counted on Asterix and Obelix.

The inspirational story of the jolly cardinal Angelo Roncalli, who looks back at his memories as a poor country priest and is eventually elected pope of the Roman Catholic Church.

This is a two-part Italian television mini-series directed by Giorgio Capitani and broadcasted in April 2002 on Rai Uno. It is the life story of Pope John XXIII, nicknamed "the good Pope".

Two linen fabric dealers with their shops close to one another, battle against each other for more and more costumers. Umberto constantly loses clients because of the tough competition brought by Leone, who offers the best prices in the neighborhood. But they leave differences aside when the rise of Fascism places Anti-Semitic politics which rigidly control business like the one conducted by the Jewish Leone, and those new regulations are viewed by Umberto as completely unfair. The long rivalry soon becomes a great friendship.

In 1936, the political and marital tribulations of Léon Blum, elected President of the Council at the head of the Popular Front.

Les Acteurs is the absurd story of Jean-Pierre Marielle desperately waiting for a cup of hot water, the story of a conspiracy against actors, the story of aging actors whose careers are slowly less active than they used to be, but a stunning tribute to French actors and their cinema.

Christmas, family, and infidelity. Yvette's husband has died, and her grown daughters join her at the grave: Sonia, wealthy, bourgeois, and generous; Louba, living with their dad Stanislas, singing at a Russian restaurant, penniless, the mistress for the past 12 years of a man who will never leave his wife; Milla, the youngest, acerbic, lonesome. Christmas was when they learned their parents were divorcing 25 years ago. Over the next few days, yuletide depression, Louba's pregnancy, Sonia's crumbling marriage, Stanislas's overtures to Yvette, and Milla's attraction to the man who's her father's rent-free lodger lead each one to re-examine self, family, and hopes. Is renewal possible?

This is the sprawling saga of Honoré de Balzac, a man who created a great literary oeuvre from the dramas and adventures of his own life - a life that he shaped into one spectacular and unforgettable blaze of passion. At the heart of the story are the women in Balzac's life. Although gruff, unsophisticated, and far from handsome, Balzac exerts an irresistible fascination on women.

Frédérique's mother has died recently leaving her the family stud farm. She's never met her father, doesn't even know his name. But she finds it on the back of an old photo. She sets off for Paris. She stays with her gay dancer pal Marc. Marc and friends decide to go to their favourite gay bar... but it's men only. So Frédérique becomes Frédéric, an effeminate gay boy... Frédérique follows her father. Pierre Arroux is an art curator - and gay. She introduces herself to him, but as Frédéric. So while Frédéric is quite an awkward young man and an embarrassment to his father, Frédérique is secretly meeting with her old boyfriend now living in Paris..

The life of Henri de Toulouse Lautrec, famous french painter, who lived, enjoyed, loved in the late 1800s Paris' Montmartre cultural life. He suffered from suffered from congenital health conditions traditionally attributed to inbreeding. His lifestyle and work are a testimony of the late-19th-century parisian bohemian lifestyle, as he was commissioned to produce a series of posters for the Moulin Rouge cabaret opening. As an alcoholic, he was addicted to absinthe. The movie related his love affair with the french painter Suzanne Valadon.

Vienna before the First World War: Clarissa Schuhmeister grows up in the monastery. Strict discipline determines her life until she meets the Frenchman Léonard and falls in love with him. Just when she expects a child from him, the First World War tears the happy couple apart. Out of pragmatism, Clarissa marries Gottfried, a deserter, with whom she makes a painful yet realistic agreement so that he will not be sent back to war. But she never feels love for him because she can not forget Léonard.

In 1827, Berthet, the son of a craftsman and a young seminarian, was tried and sentenced to death for murdering his former mistress, the wife of a notable who had hired him as tutor to his children.

Though he is near death, blind Rene, an elderly Italian-French intellectual, continues to make his annual conference abroad accompanied by his self-centered loyal, beautiful assistant Sibilla who may or may not be his lover. Rene's domineering mother strongly disapproves of Sibilla and his continual galavanting, but Rene disregards her and goes anyway. While in Spain, Sibilla falls for a handsome young toreador who also captures the interest of Rene, though it is hard to say whether his feelings for the bullfighter are fatherly or more romantic. It is also unclear as to whether Sibilla and the bullfighter are lovers either. Thus an enigmatic romantic triangle forms until Rene and Sibilla suddenly decide to wed. The character of Rene seems to be closely patterned after Argentine writer Jorge Luis Borges.

The last days of World War I, Eastern front. Captain Conan, a lone wolf, a true warrior, leads a band of ruthless French fighters who love hand-to-hand combat; they are not fit for peacetime, they only feel really alive in the chaos of the battlefield.

An old aristocrat, short of money, who does not accept the new world ruled by the bourgeois class ,epitomized by the industrialist and by the doctor who finally grabs the the aristocrat's castle which soon will be turned into a hospital.

Désiré is a fine servant and butler who regularly seduces the ladies of the house where he works, but then he moves on. This time he is working for Odette, the mistress of the minister of Posts and he is living a new situation. He has fallen in love with with Odette.

At the beginning of the century. To punish him for his failure at school, Count Ivan Petrov takes his son Alexander to spend the two summer months in their Crimean estate, far from any distraction. For the 18-year-old, this is the beginning of a long period of isolation, one-on-one with a father whose severity he fears. Once on the spot, Ivan announces to his son the imminent arrival of his cousins Katia, whom he loves in silence, and Natacha, accompanied by their mother Elena. The joy of Alexander is short-lived, Natacha learning to him immediately that Katia comes in fact to celebrate her engagement with Nicolai. His dismay increases when he discovers that it is his father who arranged this marriage, of which Katia does not seem to be very happy.

Handsome pediatric doctor feels unfulfilled, until his affection for a 12-year-old opens him to a romantic view of the world. When she falls ill, he must get closer to her, and a conflict of interests and ethics arise. His medical reputation is at stake.

In Paris, near the end of World War II, crotchety professor Fernand Bonnard maintains a zoo and continues his research. He's a coward, as is his debonair son, Armand, who has one daughter, Philippine. On her eighth birthday, Armand picks her up from her repressive boarding school and takes her to Fernand's to celebrate. Father and son quarrel, and Armand leaves, only to be arrested and shot for violating curfew. In grief, the curmudgeonly Fernand does not tell Philippine, but invents a life for Armand as a captain of the Resistance. Fernand takes her from school to live with him and his sensible wife. Along the way, Philippine finds out the truth and Fernand discovers courage.

Colonel Chabert has been severely wounded in the French-Russian Napoleonic war to the point that the medical examiner has signed his death certificate. When he regains his health and memory, he goes back to Paris, where his "widow", Anne has married the Count Ferraud and is financing his rise to power using Chabert's money. Chabert hires a lawyer to help him get back his money and his honor.

It is 1654, in the South of France. When horsemen follow a runaway slave into the convent where he's taken sanctuary and kill both the fugitive and the Mother Superior, they little realise that one of the novices is the spirited daughter of retired musketeer D'Artagnan.

A naturalist fiction film organized around one of the most essential principles of life, "water", it is not an animal documentary but a fresco of nature. The elements, precipitations, minerals, landscapes, plants and animals are apprehended without hierarchy while water constitutes the main protagonist of the film. Epic, poetic, lyrical sometimes, water reveals the splendor of certain landscapes, the strangeness of the behavior.

France, 1815. After his defeat at Waterloo, Napoleon heads for exile. Royalists occupy Paris and attempt to restore the monarchy. However, the battle doesn't seem to be over. On July 6, Talleyrand, a shrewd politician of flexible convictions, invites chief of police and zealous revolutionary Fouché to supper and tries to convince him to serve the king. Over the meal they insult each other, accuse each other, and, at first sight, look like mortal enemies. But they definitely have one thing in common: they are both power-hungry.

Two women who want a raise, realize that they can easily get what they want, if they sleep with their boss.

Married to Jeremie, Marie wants desperately to have a child. She has a 20 year old daughter from a former marriage with the police commissioner. When the gynecologist confirms they are unable to conceive a child together, they opt for adoption. However, it is a very lengthy and difficult process. When her daughter meets Joanna, a pregnant teenager willing to give up her child for adoption, Marie is thrilled. And so Joanna moves in...

On the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution, this film is a tribute to the French nation, through historical reconstructions of the Revolution and the First Empire, as well as reports on the successes of France modern, the presence of France in the world, its history and its soil.

Like every year, five old friends come together in a chalet in the middle of a Canadian snow desert. Henri, his wife Apolline, brother-in-law Maxence, Jean and Paul are waiting for cozy evenings with board games and good food - a typical ski holiday. But on the first day Henri announces that he knows about the affair between Apolline and Jean. An oppressive mood spreads in the secluded hut until the spiral of jealousy and sadism kills one from its midst.

Story of a snooty young critic at the centre of several plotlines which run throughout his apartment block.

A young woman, living with her parents and siblings on a remote farm in harsh, picturesque northern Québec, has three suitors: a steady and unimaginative farmer, Eutrope, the Americanized and wealthy Lorenzo, who has sought his fortune in Boston, and François Paradis, a rough and virile logger who captures her heart despite the warnings of her parents and the village priest. For a year, marked by seasonal change in an atmosphere charged with the strangeness of Indians and the demons of the woods, we see Maria at work and prayer, struggling with decisions, choosing to stay in Canada, in love with François, seeking to change his rough behaviors, and dealing with extraordinary loss.

During the world war two in a French village a teacher and a female pupil have been killed by the Gestapo because of an informer.Now forty years later former pupils , now adults will meet together in a villager to find out who was the pupil who denounced the teacher to the Germans and also to take a decision about it.

Jeanne Jouvert, a crime writer, has won the Quai des Orfèvres prize. Her publisher devises a clever publicity ploy that results in her husband, Alfred, head of the anti-gang squad, being honored in her place. The policeman finds himself quite comfortable as a best-selling author and takes advantage of the situation. Tired of having been submissive for too long, Jeanne plans her revenge. She asks for help from her friend Anne Beaufort, herself disappointed by her husband, who pretends to help Third World countries by selling them weapons. The two of them will prove what they are capable of by organizing a hold-up of the central post office in Paris.

Fush and Ballestrat are the heads of each department of the French police. Both have the task of combating serious crime and cleaning up the underworld.

"Le Crabe Tambour" ("Drummer Crab") is the nickname for the mysterious central character, Willsdorff (Jacques Perrin), an Alsatian, whose doomed, out-of-date career is recalled through the tales of three naval officers currently serving aboard a French supply ship in the North Atlantic.

When political thugs murder an opponent's volunteer and also kill a cop, chief inspector Verjeat believes the politician who hired them is as guilty as the murderous goon. Verjeat's pursuit of the councilman, Lardatte, gets him a warning from his superiors. When he embarrasses Lardatte while disarming a hostage (the dead volunteer's father), Verjeat is told he's being transferred within a week. He speeds up his hunt for the goon and, with Lefévre, one of his young detectives, he engineers a complicated scheme to buy more time before the transfer. How should Verjeat play out his values of honor and duty?

A large company offers consumers to acquire a "second identity", having the character traits that individuals would not normally adopt. Because of all these uninhibited behaviors, anarchy is quick to take hold.

Irresistible charm and talent helps Serge Alexandre alias Stavisky, small-time swindler, to make friends with even most influential members of French industrial and political elite during the early 30s. But nothing lasts forever and when his great scam involving hundreds millions of francs gets exposed result is an unprecedented scandal that almost caused a civil war.

Julien Dandieu, leader of the socialist political party PRU is asked to be part of the new conservative government as minister of foreign affairs. However his reputation is somewhat tarnished by his adulterous relationship with Creezy, a fashion model seen on every magazine cover. Ready to sacrifice his family for his career, he is eventually faced with the ultimate choice: his career ambitions or a lifetime with his beautiful girlfriend, who has recently mysteriously disappeared.

Comedy set at the time of King Umberto I of Monza (Italy) about Maria Sarti, aka Ninì Tirabusciò, actress/singer who caused a scandal with her raunchy dancing.

An ex-SS officer and his gorgeous wife find a refuge living in Eilat. A mysterious stranger appears from their past.

A woman learns that she is sole legatee of her forgotten rich uncle, but there is a small problem: she's got to be a widow to latch onto the dough or the fortune will go to a vague sect...

Recovering from an attempted suicide, a man is selected to participate in a time travel experiment that has only been tested on mice. A malfunction in the experiment causes the man to experience moments from his past in a random order.

Julie Kohler is prevented from suicide by her mother. She leaves the town. She will track down, charm and kill five men who do not know her. What is her goal? What is her purpose?

This film originated as a play in Paris. The story focuses on the one-day adventures of Bertrand Barnier played with a genius of French cinema, Louis de Funes. In the same morning he learns that his daughter is pregnant, an employee stole a large amount of money from his company, his maid is about to resign in order to marry a wealthy neighbor and his body builder is interested in marrying his daughter. The seemingly complicated story-line is full of comedy or errors and some of the most hilarious mime scenes of the French cinema.

Jean-Louis Matouzec works for French National Library as an expert looking after the restoration of old manuscripts.He falsifies marriage certificates as his wife refuses divorce.

The tranquility of a Romanian village is shattered by the arrival of a beautiful unknown coinciding with the discovery of a new star by a modest professor of astronomy ...

In order to appoint his new right-hand man, a CEO decides to organize a weekend with all the candidates.

Near the end of World War II, Gen. Dietrich von Choltitz receives orders to burn down Paris if it becomes clear the Allies are going to invade, or if he cannot maintain control of the city. After much contemplation Choltitz decides to ignore his orders, enraging the Germans and giving hope to various resistance factions that the city will be liberated. Choltitz, along with Swedish diplomat Raoul Nordling, helps a resistance leader organize his forces.

A young duke marries a girl, also penniless, and moves into a bus left him by an uncle, with their ten children. At last he finds the bus is made of solid gold.

A few stories about a marriages and it's problems.

A diverse group of friends gather to celebrate a witless woman's birthday in this comedy drama set in France during World War II. The guests include an uncle who is a Nazi collaborator, a blind war veteran, a simpering physician, an arrogant educator, a patriotic girl, and the husband of the guest of honor. When some German soldiers are killed outside the house, the group is told by the Gestapo that they must choose among themselves two who will be shot if the killer is not caught. If two victims are not chosen, all seven at the party will be captured. Things sound pretty grim, but the black comedy begins when all seven try to save themselves by any means possible.

Rear Window meets Estate violenta. The middle-aged Constance watches a young couple that lives across the courtyard; the girl plays loud pop music and goes out of her way to be unpleasant to the classically educated and piano-playing Constance. Then one day Constance sees the boyfriend strangle the little tart in a fit of jealousy. He sees her, too, and has nobody else to turn to for help. Constance keeps silent about the murder and offers the young Hugo a place in her bed. Then the blackmail notes start to arrive...

The brother of a delinquent schoolboy falls in love with his teacher and intrigues to make him reciprocate her love, and succeeds.

This French version of the notorious spy's life centers less on her romantic escapades, and more on those that reveal the person she actually was during WW I when her German superiors ordered her to seduce the French captain Trintignant so she can steal classified papers from him. Instead she falls in love with him, blows the cover, and ends up convicted of espionage and shot. (AllMovie)

An aging gangster, Fernand Naudin is hoping for a quiet retirement when he suddenly inherits a fortune from an old friend, a former gangster supremo known as the Mexican. If he is ambivalent about his new found wealth, Fernand is positively nonplussed to discover that he has also inherited his benefactor’s daughter, Patricia. Unfortunately, not only does Fernand have to put up with the thoroughly modern Patricia and her nauseating boyfriend, but he also had to contend with the Mexican’s trigger-happy former employees, who are determined to make a claim.

The story serves as a companion piece to Renoir's 1937 film, Grand Illusion, once more bringing together men from across the broad social spectrum of French society to depict one man's Sisyphean efforts to escape captivity in a German POW camp.

A group of people visit a weird old man who is a student of the black arts. The man lives in an ancient, cursed castle. Soon people in the group start being killed off.

"Les petits matins" is a story of eighteen-year old Agathe (Agathe Aëms) with a firm independence of men even if she uses them to get to the côte d'azur. Along the way she meets a lot of people , mostly men. And the director does not spare the sterotypical image of early 60s middle aged male cliches to lampoon. But this is all very light stuff, nothing too intellectual. But it's often charming, and there's a bevy of well-known actors involved. Jean -Claude Brialy (the pompous, self absorbed male lead of Rohmer's "Claire's Knee"), Claude Rich, Lino Ventura, François Perrier, Pierre Brasseur, and the couple Bernard Blier & Arletty, who team up here for the first time since Marcel Carné's "Hôtel du Nord" (1938).

A group of university students in Paris dream of a night of love with Suzon, whose rates are staggering. To raise the money, they organize a lottery among themselves so that at least the winner will enact their fantasy.

Seven directors each dramatize one of the seven deadly sins in a short film. In "Anger," a domestic argument over a fly in the Sunday soup escalates into nuclear war. In "Sloth," a movie star would rather pay someone to tie his shoe than bend over to do it himself, and he can't be bothered to accept a starlet's sexual favors. In "Gluttony," a peasant family on its way to the funeral of a relative who died from indigestion stops regularly to eat and drink en route, arriving in time to eat some more. In "Greed," a high-class prostitute refunds the price of a cadet's lottery ticket. In "Pride," an unfaithful wife finds reason to reform. And so on through lust and envy.

Businessman Victor Hardy wants to buy the entire area around the small village of Cabosse. He claims that he wants to return to nature, but he also intends to profit by selling the water from the village fountain, which is reputed to enhance longevity. However old farmer Mathieu and his sons don't want to sell...

Laurent is theatrical director, his girl Valerie an aspiring actress. Their relationship begins to fracture when Valerie doesn’t get the role in Laurent’s play.

The seven stages in the life of the modern Frenchwomen are disclosed by seven directors in a witty way: 1 - Childhood, 2 - Adolescence, 3 - Virginity, 4 - Marriage, 5 - Adultery, 6 - Divorce, 7 - The Single Woman.

In a small French village, everything would be quiet if the local wildlife cop was not being ridiculed by a smart poacher.

Elisabeth is persuaded to have killed her noisy upstairs neighbor, scientist Charles Magne. To save her, Mr. Matheu, Elisabeth's father, accuses himself while Pierrot, Elisabeth's fiancé gets rid of the body in order to save father and daughter. For his part, a gangster also believes he has killed the scientist but he gets shot down by a taxidermist, who runs for life. The girl, her daddy and her boyfriend also run away. But Magne is not dead. A bum is mistaken for him and a police inspector makes everyone believe that he is the one who shot the gangster. At the end of this crazy chain of events all the protagonists are reunited at the station house and everybody dances to express their relief.

During the First World War, the Empyrée Montmartre, a Paris music-hall, is dedicated to patriotic revues whose star is the charming Mitsou. The young artist is not without talent but she is mainly well-connected. She is indeed the cherished mistress of Pierre Duroy-Lelong, a rich industrialist. One night, thanks to Petite-Chose, an ebullient singer-dancer and her co-star, she gets to know a handsome army, Lieutenant Bleu. Mitsou falls madly in love with him and Lieutenant Bleu is physically attracted to her. The trouble is that Bleu comes from a distinguished family and cannot put up with her lack of culture and artistic bad taste...

Armand, a boastful womaniser, makes a bet that he can seduce any girl he wants. He soon crosses paths with a beautiful Parisian divorcee, who is nothing like anyone he has ever met before.